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Royal Armleder Suite, Le Richemond, Geneva,

Taking up the entire seventh floor, the Royal Armleder Suite is decorated with parquet floors mosaics, and gold. But it’s the view of Geneva and the Alps seen from the 300 square foot terrace that make it worth the price.

Perhaps the last hotel you stayed at was overpriced – but it was probably quite a bargain compared to the cost of a room at the world’s most expensive hotels. The world’s most expensive hotel room seems to be either the Penthouse suite at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes, France or the Bridge Suite at the Atlantis resort in Paradise Island, the Bahamas.

I’m not sure how much the Penthouse suite costs as two different web sites list two vastly different prices – $37,200 a night and $18,000 a night. Regardless, the price includes four luxuriously furnished bedrooms and a private terrace. Considering you could probably comfortably fit 20 of your family members and friends in there with you, it doesn’t seem quite so expensive if you split the cost!

The Bridge Suite at the Atlantis resort costs $25,000 a night and includes a personal bar lounge, entertainment center, kitchen and butler. There are two master bathrooms and the entire suite is built on top of a bridge that connects two towers. It supposedly offers spectacular views over the Atlantis resort and marina – I would settle for nothing less than a spectacular view if I were paying that much money to sleep there.

The other expensive hotel rooms around the world are located in predictably expensive cities – Geneva, Rome, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong and Las Vegas. And Las Vegas now has 19 of the world’s 24 largest hotel rooms as well as some of the most expensive.

One of the most intriguing expensive hotels is the Burj Al Arab hotel on the coast off Dubai. This hotel is considered to be the world’s only 7 star hotel – with spacious luxury suites and gourmet restaurants, one of which is under the water. The hotel was cleverly designed to reflect the character of the area, and resembles a huge billowing sail. At night, the 1000 foot high building is surrounded by spectacular choreographed displays of fire and water, making it visible from miles around. Oh, and the cost of one of the better suites will set you back almost $7,000 a night.

Everyone has a personal record for the amount they’ve spent on a hotel room. Whether it was for a one-off treat or just because everywhere else in town was full, most people have sampled a luxury hotel at one point or another. Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it hurts. In either case, when the bill came, you probably didn’t want to look!

But for the super rich, the cost of our so-called luxury accommodation is just part of the package. All around the world, luxury hotel suites are designed to cater to this elite, with every imaginable feature, priceless furnishings, lavish service, and a price to match. These boutique hotels are the playgrounds of the rich and famous when they travel abroad – celebrities, millionaires, pop stars, heads of state and royalty are the most frequent residents…Some of them pay and others are invited. Here are five of the most expensive luxury hotel suites in the world.

Presidential Suite, Hotel Martinez
Price: $18,500 a night

Cannes is Europe’s answer to Hollywood, so it’s no surprise that it contains a luxury hotel suite with this kind of price tag. Decorated in an Art Deco style, it measures 8,000 square feet in total. The wraparound terrace (which can hold over 100 people) is 2000 square feet on its own, and has views of the entire Bay of Cannes. Other features include a Turkish bath, personal sauna, 24 hour on call butler and a free bar – though breakfast is not included in your bill.

Guests at this famous hotel have included Jodie Foster, Francis Ford Coppola and Monica Belluci. One Saudi sheik liked the Presidential Suite so much that he wanted to hire it out for five years. The hotel, confident of being able to fill the suite in spite of its price, refused his request.

Imperial Suite, President Wilson Hotel, Geneva
Price: $23,000 a night

You pay for security as much as luxury at this famous hotel suite in Geneva. Positioned next to the United Nations Headquarters and designed for travelling heads of state, the Imperial Suite features bullet proof glass and bedside alarm buttons, and can only be reached by a private elevator.

With views of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc, the suite contains five bathrooms, four bedrooms, a cocktail lounge, a library, its own Steinway grand piano and a mahogany dining table that can comfortably seat 26 guests. It costs approximately $23,000 a night. Breakfast is not included but the service can’t be argued with – when one guest requested a bed that could not fit in the lift, the hotel hired a crane to get it in the bedroom.

The Bridge Suite, Atlantis Hotel, Paradise Island
Price: $25,000 a night

The Bridge Suite sits on top of the bridge that connects the two Royal Towers in this resort on the aptly named Paradise Island. For $25,000 a night you get your own butler, entertainment centre, 50-foot bar lounge, marble baths and a décor described as conveying “regal majesty” by the hotel staff. For regal majesty, read lots of gilded mirrors and windows, golden sofas, and a ten-foot four-poster bed with hand-painted linen sheets. Subdued and tasteful it isn’t, but if you like to see some eye-watering opulence in your five figure luxury hotel suite, this may be the one for you.

Ty Warner Penthouse, Four Seasons Hotel, New York
Price: $30,000

This boutique hotel spared no expense when it came to furnishing the penthouse on its 52nd floor. Gold thread curtains, walls inlaid with mother of pearl, onyx bathroom floors, and even a shark skin coffee table are all part of the package here, along with stunning views over Manhattan and even a waterfall in the so-called Zen room. For those who like a little more than the standard room service, this luxury hotel suite comes with unlimited treatments from an in-house masseuse, a butler on 24 hour duty and a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce.

Hugh Hefner Sky Villa, Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas
Price: $40,000

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Hugh Hefner’s name is attached to the ultimate in luxury hotel decadence. At a jaw dropping $40,000 a night, the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa is the world’s most expensive hotel suite, located (appropriately enough) in the Fantasy Tower of the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Amongst the eccentric extras are an eight foot revolving bed with ceiling mirrors, an indoor waterfall, an exercise room, sauna, and a terrace pool projecting out over the edge of the Fantasy Tower with the Playboy Bunny logo stamped firmly in the centre.

Top Ten Most Expensive Hotel Rooms in the World
Royal Suite, Burj Al Arab

Demand for the top end of the luxury hotel market has been unaffected by the credit crunch, keeping prices for the best rooms at very high levels : the superrich are still willing to spend huge sums on staying at the best hotel rooms in the world, paying as much as $34,000 a night to lodge at the most luxurious suites, according Wealth-Bulletin’s survey of the Top Ten Most Expensive Hotel Rooms in the World.

Also worth noting is the appearance of Dubai (the Burj Al Arab’s Royal Suite, above) and Moscow hotels on the list, which would have been unheard of just a couple years ago. Here are the Top 10:

1. The Warner PentHouse, Four Seasons; New York, $34,000 per night.

2. Royal Penthouse suite, President Wilson Hotel, Geneva, $33,000 per night.

3. The Presidential Suite, Hotel Cala Di Volpe, Costa Smeralda, Italy $21,000 per night.

4. Royal Suite, Burj-Al-Arab, $18,000 per night.

5. Royal Armleder Suite, Le Richmond, Geneva, $17,500 per night.

6the ritz carlton moscow suite The Worlds 10 Most Expensive Hotel Suites 2008.
The Ritz Carlton Suite, The Ritz Carlton, Moscow; 16,500 per night

7. The Royal Suite, Four Seasons George V, Paris; $15,500 per night

8. The Imperial Suite, Park Hyatt Vendome, Paris; 15,500 per night

9. Brook Penthouse, Claridges, London, $10,000 per night

10. Penthouse Suite, Hotel Martinez, Cannes, $9,300 per night (During the Cannes film festival week in May the price rockets to $48,000 a night).